Manil Suri, a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, had a great op-ed in the New York Times this past weekend called How to Fall in Love with Math. Suri argues that even those of us without advanced knowledge of math can appreciate its power and beauty. He writes:

Despite what most people suppose, many profound mathematical ideas don’t require advanced skills to appreciate. One can develop a fairly good understanding of the power and elegance of calculus, say, without actually being able to use it to solve scientific or engineering problems.

Think of it this way: you can appreciate art without acquiring the ability to paint, or enjoy a symphony without being able to read music. Math also deserves to be enjoyed for its own sake, without being constantly subjected to the question, “When will I use this?”

A new school year has begun, and soon I will have a new group of after-school math club students. At the first session, I always like to just talk to the kids about why math is important, in terms of future careers, as well as, in everyday life. After all, few are going to grow up to be mathematicians, so why do they need all this math anyway?

I start by asking them to think of ways they or the grown-ups in their family use math:

Dividing something to share,

Dealing with money – shopping, tipping, budgeting

Art and craft projects (measuring, buying the right amount of supplies),

Home improvement projects,

Time management

Next, we think about some of the careers that use math:

Scientists and engineers

Computer programmers

Medical professionals (doctors, nurses, technicians),

Designers

Contractors and landscapers

Bankers, accountants, and other finance professionals

Anyone who owns a business – budgets and accounting

This year, I plan to also show them how math is important in lots of fields and shows up often in scientific articles. Here are just a few recent headlines:

Researchers at BYU found that while boys tend to do better in the first round of math competitions, girls do just as well or better than the boys in subsequent rounds. Maybe girls just need a little more time to get warmed up and comfortable. Most school math competitions consist of one round, but this study was based on the results at 24 elementary schools that changed the format of their math competitions to 5 rounds.

Yesterday would have been Paul Erdös’s 100th birthday. (It’s pronounced air-dish). Not only was Erdös an extremely prolific mathematician (he published over 1,500 papers), he was a fascinating and somewhat eccentric man. For the last few years of his life, he did not have a home; he travelled around and stayed with collaborators while working with them. He was a terrible houseguest, but his hosts were so honored to be working with him that they didn’t mind. Mathematicians sometimes refer to their Erdös number (sort of like a Kevin Bacon number for math). If you co-authored a paper with Erdös, you have an Erdös number of 1. If you co-authored a paper with someone who co-authored a paper with Erdös, you have an Erdös number of 2, and so on.

To learn more about this amazing man, I refer you to a Scientific American article, a segment from Radiolab, and a book (which the Scientific American and Radiolab stories use as the primary source).

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is devoted to teaching girls about the field of engineering, a field traditionally dominated by men. This event aims to address one of the causes of this gender disparity, a lack of familiarity with the field.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, 2013, is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Sally Ride. Dr. Ride was America‘s first woman in space and founder of Sally Ride Science, a company devoted to promoting K-12 science education.